Hit Me With Your Best Shot. What's Next?
Monday, June 2, 2014 at 3:45PM Only three more episodes of Best Shot left before a three week hiatus or an early wrap. You decide with your participation!
Thanks to those who participated in Michelangelo Antonioni's mod frameable Blow-Up (1967), Bryan Singer's template setting X-Men (2000), and John Ford's earnest tearjerker How Green Was My Valley (1941) -- my entry was late icymi.
Tuesday June 3rd - Zorba the Greek (1964)
Dance along with our 50th anniversary 1964-theme party for the month of June (we're going there for the Supporting Smackdown on the 30th and we're trying to be more conscious of time management). This smash hit with both the public and Oscar (3 Oscar wins including Cinematography) is strangely little discussed today despite seeping into pop culture. Plus, I've NEVER seen it. Don't judge. It's a huge gap in my '60s era Oscar knowledge.
[Amazon Instant]
Tuesday June 10th Orange is the New Black (2014) Season 2
A one-off experimental episode. Since the internet will be thinking of little else that week, I'm not even going to try to fight it. Choose your single "best shot" from any episode/episodes of Season 2 that you've watched and would like to discuss. The second season is available on Netflix starting June 6th as a special birthday gift to me.
[Netflix]
Tuesday June 17th Goldfinger (1964)
The first half of the season will wrap up with a bang bang. I wanted something fun and kicky as the finale. We've never done a Bond film and this one is largely credited with perfecting the formula and regularly placed at the top (or close to it) of best Bond films ever. Sing along with us...
♩this heart is cold... he loves only gold ♫
[Amazon Instant | Netflix Instant]
Three Week Break
SUMMER "BEST SHOT" HIATUS
The 2nd half of the 5th Season -- we'll see how these three episodes go -- will begin on July 15th
The final 7 titles of the season, should we have enough participation in these three, will be announced in late June. I have a few ideas I'm really excited about.
Reader Comments (32)
OMG, this is amazing. Such varied and visually stunning choices. I really hope to have my post for The Letter up this afternoon. I know the exact shot(s) I love (damn this one shot thing) so I just need to find the time to compile my post.
I audibly gasped when I read that you were doing 3 Women. It's absolutely brilliant. I haven't got a blog, so won't be participating, but I look forward to seeing everyone's choices.
How can I participate in this section and where shall I send you the shot I choose?
Looking forward to The Letter later today, such a great picture.
By the way what happened to the Dark Victory post in Seasons of Bette? It's disappeared from the roll and when I tried looking it up it says it's restricted.
joel6 -- i posted it accidentally ! I wasn't quite finished with it.
last time i saw -- you just post your choice on your own blog, twitter, facebook (public setting) or wherever online with a short to long description of why and let us know you did in the comments or by emailing to filmexperience @ gmail (dot) com and we link up that tuesday night
rob -- you don't have to have a blog. you can post on facebook, twitter, instagram, tumblr, wherever.
Here's my shot calroth2.tumblr.com/
what are you thinking for May 13th?
cal -- if i'd decided it would have been listed :)
I am embarrassed. I was all ready to participate again (FINALLY!) this week, and then I COULD NOT FIND The Letter on Netflix Instant! And then I got caught up in Passover cooking and forgot all about it until now. Which is way too late to find a physical copy. DAMMIT! You can bet I'll be back for Pocahontas, though (Disney's most underrated movie? It's surely either that or Mulan. Or The Great Mouse Detective).
denny - The Letter is not on Netflix Instant, sadly. so it has to be rented on either itunes or physical copies so i knew there'd be less participation. *sniffle*
No, I mean do tyou have any idea of the kind of movie you want? Like, you once said you wanted a boy's movie, you picked Butch Cassidy...
Let's say you wnat something silent, or contemporary Asian, or form the 70's... Any clue so we can help?
May 13th is the day before my 26th birthday, so whatever you pick please make it cheery!
Cal -- you heard Anne Marie. I guess it has to be cheery ! I'd prefer 1920s through 1950s but it absolutely can't be the 1990s since we've done too many of those lately. The main problem this season is that rentals of physical discs are no longer doable for many people (damn instant watching!) meaning it has to be one of the few movies that's easy to stream online somewhere.
i'm still debating several titles, none of them were cheery but maybe anne marie is right :)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios).
My go to, cheery, I need to be happy movie. "Pepa?" "You no longer have that harsh look of a virgin about you." "La pistola."...and the best gazpacho on film.
is there a list with all the movies covered in this "hit me with your best shot" series?
and has "meet me in st. louis" been done yet?
marcelo -- here's a list of films by decade and a list of films by season
Roman Holiday!
Some suggestions.....
Midnight (1939, Claudette Colbert/Don Ameche)
Talk to Her (2002)
Morvern Callar (2002 - May 13th is Samantha Morton's birthday)
Rebecca (1940, Daphne du Maurier's birthday)
Shame (1968, Ingmar Bergman film)
The Edge of Heaven (2007/08)
Arkaan: Cheery! Not limited to a certain time period, here's 8 I'll toss out:
Superman: The Movie (Cheery, though not from the specified period)
Roman Holiday (Fits perfectly)
Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 (Don't entirely know if it's conventionally "cheery", but it's certainly not a depressing film, but at least it's not from the 1990s.)
The General (Fits perfectly)
The Fantastic Mr Fox (Cheery, in quite a few scenes, though not from the specified period)
Beat the Devil (Not conventionally cheery, but it does spread some form of cheer)
1 shot from episode 1, 2, 4, 5 or 47 (110 minutes) of Danny Phantom. (Good luck, though, these are probably the five weakest episodes of the show, both in terms of narrative AND of aesthetic value. Somewhat cheery and at least it's not from the 90s.)
I can't wait to read the 3 Women writeups. Such a perfect, beautiful movie, and if I had my way I'd be reading about Altman on the daily. (Following it up with Antonioni is the cherry on the Hit Me sundae.)
Pre-emptive best shot Bat Film by Film that I've seen:
1989 Batman: Joker dancing through the photos.
Batman Returns: Catwoman screaming in the greenhouse. What Burton films lack in "logic" and "tight plotting" they more than make up for in a shockingly raw level of pulsing emotion and the crafting of an aesthetic wonderland.
Batman Forever: Riddler at the end, delusionally convinced he's Batman with a damaged ear.
Batman & Robin: "Mmm. WAYNE ENTERPRISES." (Uma is still (kind of) bad, but she has her moments and the straight out of comic book speech patterns delivery of that line is probably her peak. Plus, this small two second shot is one of the few beats where the aesthetic isn't schizoidly caught between Batman 66 and Christopher Nolan styles of Batman.)
Batman Begins: Batman at the center of the bats before escaping from Gordon. Probably the only moment of the series that's really notable for an aesthetic choice and not tight plotting and scripting.
The Dark Knight: There's a few I could choose, but I'd probably choose the Aaron Eckhart close-up where he says "Okay, fine, you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain", as obvious as it is as a beat.
The Dark Knight Rises: Honestly, I'd go for the held take of the football field blowing up. It's a moment that, taken out of context, is not really tied into the narrative or thematic problems and could be done by a more trilogy ending thematically appropriate villain.
Awesome! I love Zorba the Greek. Great book AND film. Can't wait.
I LOVE How Green Was My Valley. The most unfairly maligned film in Hollywood history--you step off Citizen Kane fanboys!
Yessss OITNB
what happened to Batman week? I was on watching as many as possible. I had already picked my shots for Batman and Batman Returns!
I will also probably have to sit out Zorba the Greek. I watched it for the first time a couple months ago, and I kind of hated it...
Conrado -- as stated in the post I moved Batman to July because Warner Bros / DC picked July as the official anniversary so we'll be doing that one on the night of July 22nd (the anniversary is the 23rd)
New season of OITNB on June 6th, opening of The Fault in Our Stars on June 6th, opening of The Edge of Tomorrow on June 6th, Teller's The Tempest at the A.R.T. on June 7th and the Tony Awards on June 8th. What a great weekend! Life is good. Oh, and Nathaniel's b-day, too! (Geminiis unite!)
Ooooh, I missed the X-Men one, might hop in there on the rerun. Also, I've always meant to see How Green Was My Valley; now seems a good of time as any.
I hate to clutter up the "coming attractions" post with my best shot pick for "How Green Was My Valley", but I managed to get my pick in early for once and I wanted to make sure it was in on time. You can find it at my journal under the title "Valley of Ashes."
In the interest of contributing something to this, though, some suggestions for future "Best Shot" films:
*Citizen Kane
*Tales of the Night (Yes, I WILL keep recommending this one)
*A Busby Berkeley musical (Footlight Parade's a particular favorite).
*An Errol Flynn movie.
*All About Eve
*Metropolis (or anything by Fritz Lang)
Looking forward to the rest of the season, regardless!
I love participating (and reading) this series! I will be skipping this week's, but don't take it as a sign that I'm losing enthusiasm or anything like that!
psst, cabaret